The Net is Gross

Dairy Financial Herd Health Assessment and Monitoring

Abstract

Veterinarians are in a natural position to interact with dairymen within the scope of financial herd health. They are on the dairies frequently, see management as it is and not as it is supposed to be, understand the interactions of feeds, facilities, cows, labor and management, and are among the most trusted of service providers.

Today dairy farmers rely more on capital and less on labor and land. Additionally, major changes in the lending business climate has resulted in a decrease in commercial banks willing to make loans of less than one million dollars. Liability concerns and awards have made bankers reluctant to offer management advice or counsel of any type.

Veterinarian's ongoing monitoring programs within the herd health area, including reproduction, calf, mastitis and nutritional programs, fit well with financial monitoring. There are more non-veterinary consultants promoting their services, frequently in areas traditionally thought of as within the veterinarian's scope of expertise. The profession needs to solidify its position with the dairy industry and providing seivices within the financial area can help both dairymen and veterinarians. Accumulating and reporting this data along with other herd management monitors makes sense. The profession needs to continue its movement towards a fee for knowledge reward system and away from being paid only for technical labor. Finally, veterinarians are also lenders to dairymen, and need to protect their investment by assisting their debtors to be profitable, liquid and solvent.